Recent Comments "Les petites filles modèles"

Les Petites Filles Modèles. Another of my childhood favourites that I revisited by way of reading aloud to my nine year old brother, who surprisingly loved it. I say "surprisingly" because it's a) not as fun as Les Malheurs de Sophie, the first book of the trilogy that featured hilarious antics of disobedience as opposed to goodness and sweetness, and b) a girly-girl book. Like, really girly, with tea parties and dolls and effusions of emotion every two pages. Really girly as in all the charact [...]

This book is so delightful. I've read it ages ago, but now that I'm a grown up, I still fancy to read it. Sophie touched my heart so deeply. She is just like me when I was younger, always acting without really thinking through the consequences. But she has also been through so much. Her toughness is due to what she lived, and this is probably some way to protect herself. This is the prefect first book for you children, and also for you.

This book is a really sweet adaptation of the traditional French story. It uses the original text, but abridges it to make it more readable for a younger audience. My mom gave this to me to read during a long car ride when I was around 7, and I was immediately enthralled. The characters and their adventures captured my attention and kept me busy for that trip. Now, years later, I have reread it and enjoyed the story once more. However, the characters started to grate on me after a while. The ori [...]

Absolutely delightful, but not a book I would recommend for modern children. It was written in the mid 19th century and as with most early children's fiction, is very moralising and Christian. That said, it has some bizarre and horrifying events which a sensitive child might be quite shocked by as well, not to mention little girls drinking wine, something hard to explain if you're not aware of the historical context. I am very grateful to the translator for making it possible to read these books [...]

Again, my Sophie loved this book and cannot wait to have me read her the third and final in the series. Reading in conjunction with The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, I've appreciated more what 'background' Sophie is getting from this book of 19th century France and all the questions she's asking e.g. What's a drawing room (in the context of their being no TV)? What's a chateaux?, Man, they must be rich to have servants! And the concept of it having being considered somewhat acceptable for [...]

My mother bought me this book at a book fair during one of the years she taught in the same school I was attending. I love Comtesse de Ségurs books as I always can feel a kind of longness for the times and people described in the books. It reminds me of simpler times, maybe because I read them young or maybe because times were actually simpler.Anyway this books is about sisters who always do what they have to do and care about their family more than anything, it may sound dull compared to Sophi [...]

Following from Sophie's Misfortunes, the focus shifts to a set of new characters, with Sophie re-entering the picture partway through. My daughter and I found it rather shocking and sad to find out what has befallen Sophie since the first novel, plus the abuse she must endure at the hands of her uncaring stepmother. A little confronting for child readers, perhaps? Things turn out well for Sophie, however, and we enjoyed following the adventures of the children.

I have read the whole series of these book and i really dont know what to say. Some of the trouble these girls get into is scary they have almost died like 7 times!!!!!!!! And a little girl doesnt think that cutting up and salting fish will hurt!!!!!! seriously!!!!! but aside from all the misfortunes in the book they are very good!!!

While this is a book written in another time, there is some explaining to be done when reading this to today's child. Very moral and kind of lectureish in nature. Some quite confronting and blunt situations Sophie, from the first book, has to endure, which, if reading back to back, comes as a bit of a nasty shock!

I enjoyed it as a child, I read it again when as an adult.Silly, nice, old-fashioned, but I was shocked as an adult by all those spanks children are given in those books. That is really disturbing.Je l'ai lu étant enfant, relu à l'âge adulte. C'est mignon, niais, surrané. Par contre il y a un peu trop de scènes de fessées.